The Host Club Goes for a Ride
by Breware
Summary: On a seemingly pleasant day that Haruhi was hoping to use as a lazy-day, she's awaken by the cheery voice of Tamaki - whom is overly cheerful about a 'surprise adventure' he's taking the Host Club on. Little does poor Haruhi know she's in for a wild ride - literally - as the Host Club goes on for their first over night camping trip on a large dude ranch!
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi guys! So, this is my first fanfiction, so bear with me! And pardon any mistakes! Constructive crit is absolutely appreciated! This was written with the help of my dear friend Lici who sadly doesn't have an account, but I'll force to make one eventually! Please enjoy! :)

**The Host Club Goes for a Ride**

_Bzz. Bzz. Bzz. _rang Haruhi's phone irritatingly on a absolutely crisp Monday morning over the sweet month of July. Haruhi opened one eye, glaring at the phone and let out a small groan, half-heartedly pulling herself up and propping herself upon her elbow, before reaching over to the small cellular device and flipping it open, pressing it to her ear.

"What is it, Senpai?" She grunted groggily, lifting herself up into a sitting position and used her free hand to rub at her eyes.

"_Haruhi! _Good, you're awake! Today - we're all going on an adventure!" Tamaki's voice rang through the phone with an almost childish glee, causing Haruhi to feel just a touch disgruntled - how on _earth _could someone be this awake at this hour?

She then collapsed back on her bed in annoyance, still holding the phone in her hand. She furrowed her brows and let out a miniscule groan.

"Haruhi? _Haruhi! _Come on, pack up! I'm sending a car over to pick you up as soon as possible! Be ready!" Tamaki continued to sing childishly, taking Haruhi's silence to his heart to continue.

_Click._ Haruhi snapped the phone shut, squeezed her eyes shut, and attempted to lapse back into sleep again.

Yet in a few short seconds, she could hear the blaring horn of a car - closely followed by the intense squealing of her absolutely overreactive father.

"_Haruhi!_ You need to come see this car up fro-_ont!_" Cried Haruhi's father in a manner that overly reminded her of Tamaki.  
Haruhi groaned for what seemed like the hundreth time that morning - leave it to Senpai to warn her of a car coming for it, the moment it arrives. She quickly tossed her ever so warm and inviting blankets off her, and sped through the routine of getting dressed, skipping brushing her teeth and hair and merely settled for downing a few breath mints. She then paused and stared at her closet - she had no idea what sort of 'adventure' they were going on, thus had no idea what to pack; so, she decided to just generalize the 'adventure', and prepare herself for anything by packing up both warm clothes, and cold clothes.

Thus, in a manner of minutes, she was rushing a goodbye to her father and was racing out the door to the large black car outside her appartment buildings, which looked ever so out of place (a seemingly brand new expensive vehicle, parked next to old hand-me-down suburban vehicles).  
The rear window closest to Haruhi rolled down to reveal the exuberantly bright, childish face of Honey-senpai, whom gave Haruhi a wide grin and a small giggle. He then waved his arms rapidly and leaning out of the car window precariously at Haruhi, ushering her over and causing Mori-senpai to quickly pull him back into the car before he toppled out.

"So glad you could make it." Mori stated nonchalantly in his usual deep-throated monotonous voice, which Haruhi couldn't help thinking of to be in a sort of big-brotherly tone.

"Where are we going anyways?" Haruhi replied in a slightly irritable tone as she slid inside the car and clicked in her seatbelt, giving Honey and Mori an expression oddly combined with irritable unamusement and light nonchalance.

"Tamaki-chan has a surprise for all of us," Squealed Honey-senpai as he flopped down in his seat. "But Kyoya-chan isn't too happy about it cos' it's expensive for us." He hid his chin in his soft pink plush bunny's fur, nearly bashfully - which, Haruhi had to admit to herself, did appear to be a bit cute, especially the way Honey's big brown eyes bulged ever so lightly.

The car then drove for quite awhile with it's occupants remaining in a companionable silence as they gazed out the windows with questioning expressions, attempting to gather a clue from the landscape as to where they were going.

Haruhi gazed out the window in a much less irritable manner, as the time passed on she felt herself awaken more clearly, her mind opening up and her irritating mood washed away to her usual nonchalance during the day; and as she gazed out the window, something caught her eye which caused a light bulb to flash in her mind's image - what had she seen? A small, seemingly pleasant, brown colored pony grazing in a field. At the sight of the pony, Haruhi absolutely knew what was coming - but continued to cling to the hope that they were just _passing_ by a farm on their way to some sort of cabin for camping, or even a more private beach trip.

Yet much to her dismay, the sleek black car pulled along a long dirt road into a charmingly set ranch; a dude ranch, Haruhi guessed, to be absolutely exact. The car parked, and she gained a excellent view of the whole setting of the area. In the absolute front was a two-story pleasant looking farm house with an ever so dark black roof that accented the white boards upon the house, that stretched to a well-windowed porch that housed the front door, and a porch swing. Off to the left side of the large house were various log cabins, which each sported an absolutely excellent looking stone chimney and light porches. Thus, off to the right side of the large house, a little bit of a ways away, was a large, classically red-and-white painted barn with large doors that were open to reveal a long aisleway full of what appeared to be, stalls - Haruhi guessed, full of horses. Not far off from the barn was a small corral, and a larger - Haruhi pondered the word a moment before finally remembering it was the proper term - dirt arena, surrounded by a pleasant white fence.  
She lightly stepped out of the car with a calm, steady Mori, and an overly bouncey Honey who continuously squealed "Yay! Yay! Yay!" to see Tamaki, standing there awaiting them with a wide grin upon his face. Haruhi looked him up and down, and she knew just what was coming from his apparel, which, was Tamaki placed in absolutely impossibly white jeans, a button up flannel red plaid shirt, and intensely bright turquoise colored boots that were positively covered in fringe - and, to top the ensemble off, his golden-blonde hair remained the home to a broad-brimmed Western 'cowboy hat', which Haruhi believed were called 'stetsons'.

"Howdy there," Tamaki spoke in a slightly mocking Southern accent whilst giving Haruhi an almost smirkish grin as he peered at her from under his hat - which quickly evolved to a large, sparkling white grin as he took on his usual light tone. "Today, we're going horse back riding, Haruhi!"

"Oh great." Haruhi groaned, mostly to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**_Hi everyone! Sorry it took so long to update, it's been awhile since Lici came over and I couldn't do this without her. Also, we had no idea we'd get this many hits - or any at all! We're so flattered, and thanks so much to all our readers! We'll be setting up some more chapters, which should include some: Bloody noses, ticked off cowgirls, and speedy horses. Also, sorry this chapter isn't really exciting - but at least we have some implied HaruhixTamaki! You know. If you squint. Anyway, enjoy reading!_

A light cream curtain was pulled off to the side in light ruffled fabrics to reveal a fairly irritated Haruhi. She promptly stood with a frown upon her lips, her arms crossed, and a hot pink cowboy hat promptly tilted over her eyebrows. The hat wasn't the only change to her current apparel, but rather she had also found herself dressed in plain denim skinny jeans, a well fitted light pink plaid top - far _too_ well-fitted for her liking - and a set of pink and black cowboy boots. She found this change annoying on the brink of humiliating, if they'd just _told_ her what she'd be needing to wear, instead of suddenly announcing "You can't wear _THAT_ while riding!" and whisking her off to some random dressing room, she could have packed accordingly. Not to mention, she was fairly certain most cowboys and cowgirls didn't dress quite _this _rambunctiously - but all she had to make her guess on had been a few movies she'd seen on late night television.

Haruhi quickly tilted her ill-fitted hat (which was, oddly, the _only_ thing that was ill-fitting) as it fell over her eyes, up upon her head again, and in that split second of the hat infiltrating her view, the scene before was promptly changed from the Host Club coolly taking in her appearance, to suddenly Tamaki practically on the brink of tears, which Haruhi - irritably so - assumed was because of how 'cute' she looked. Tamaki clutched his hands underneath his chin and bent over slightly, his golden hair falling just barely over the _intense_ puppy-dog eyes that seemed to appear only when Haruhi felt annoyance - she somehow guessed Tamaki knew that his puppy-dog eyes were able to melt her irritation.

On top of Tamaki going 'gaga' over her appearance - and then let out a squeal that slightly resembled a dolphin - Kyoya allowed himself a small, smug expression; Honey cheered and bounced once, squeaking 'Yaay! Haruhi's ready to ri-ide now!' with Mori merely letting out a slight 'Hmm' in response; the twins them openly smirked and promptly announced with prominent pride, "It's from our new Western style collection line!"

"Yeah, well, you got everything rightly fitted except the hat." Grumbled Haruhi, as she _again_ tilted it back up above her brows.

"I think it looks _cu-ute_!" Sang Tamaki, boumcing up and down in a childish manner.

"Do I _really _have to ride? I've never ridden ever before, and I don't really like horses." She wrinkled her nose up slightly, crossing her arms tighter.

"Oh, horses aren't _that_ bad, besides, we're going to be needing you to learn to ride anyway - we're planning a Host polo match to kick off the new year, and each member is required to ride in it." Kyoya spoke lightly, leaning himself against the wall and adjusted his glasses with a mere nudge of his index finger.

"_Polo?_" Groaned Haruhi - she'd hoped that at least all she'd have to do is sit on a horse while it plodded along it's lazy way, but now she had to play _Polo._ This day was better, and better.

"It'll be so fun, and we'll teach you to ride and get you on a cute-cute-cute-cute-_CUTE_ pony that'll go perfectly with your hat!" Squealed Tamaki promptly as he began to bounce around Haruhi.

"Hmm." Murmured Mori, shifting his gaze from the quite-pink (both in appearal and slightly in her cheeks from the sudden bouncing Tamaki), to the new figures who'd appeared in the small room. Tamaki lightly stopped bouncing and quickly regained his posture, giving off a charming smile to the newcomers. Haruhi assumed that they were both around her age, if not barely older, and each had a sort of aura about them that just absolutely screamed 'Horse women!'.

One of them was a pleasantly tall, dirty blonde haired girl, whom Haruhi guessed was nearly fifteen - Tamaki's age - with a excellently set circular jaw that accented light cheekbones over setting rosy colored lips, which also made to accent the girl's bright blue eyes. She smiled easily with a friendly light in her eyes. The other was a very slightly taller, broader shoulder girl whom Haruhi assumed was more around fourteen or thirteen; she had medium lengthen dark brunette hair that fell over a slightly square jaw, and had exuberantly curly bangs that fell into rather dark brown eyes which overlooked a upturned nose, low set cheek bones, and fair colored lips; she also smiled with a friendly expression, but Haruhi felt a more 'no nonsense' air about her - nonetheless, they appeared to be pleasant people.

"Ah yes, you two must be our guides for the ride?" Kyoya inquired pleasantly, giving the girls his usual formal expression that hinted on no expression at all, to polite friendliness.

"Yeah; I'm Lici, and this is my friend Breanna." The blonde girl, apparently named Lici, chirped lightly.

"Hi!" Chirped the brunette girl.

"I'm Kyoya Ootori, the two over there are Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, then there's Mitskuni Haninozuka - Honey, Takashi Morinozuka - Mori, and over there is Haruhi Fujioka and Tamaki Suoh." Kyoya gave a polite smile that ventured on the line between 'polite' and 'firm'.

"Pleasure to meet you all." Nodded Breanna.

"Right, so, do you guys have any riding experience . . .?" Inquired Lici, flicking her gaze around to each Host.

"Each one of us - except Haruhi - has had years of riding experience in English riding, also each - except Haruhi - have competed plenty of times in Polo." Kyoya answered with absolute smoothness, which almost seemed rehearsed.

"I rode a pony when I was about five." Haruhi offered and shrugged lightly.

"Right, so mostly English riding - can you boys ride Western?" Queried Breanna easily, and Haruhi got the feeling she'd had to ask this question a lot.

"It'll be a bit of a change, but I'm sure we can manage it." Shrugged Kaoru.

"It's basically just hop in the saddle and just 'giddyup', yeah?" Sniggered Hikaru.

The sniggering twins were promptly met with cold expressions from Lici and Breanna.

Kyoya shrugged. "It should be fairly easy, English riding is _quite_ demanding at times and Western riding - not so much. Anyway, are our horses ready yet for us to go riding?" He blinked, nearly lazily at them. Haruhi glanced at the two guides, and knew _exactly_ the Hosts were saying the perfectly wrong things - and, to be honest, in these girls' positions, she probably would've been pretty irritated too. The Hosts had just _barely_ arrived a few minutes ago, and had only _just_ told them how much riding they'd done - Haruhi guessed that it'd take the girls a minute to find the properly tempered horses for each Host, not to mention putting all the leather things on the horses.

"_Actually,_" Lici managed a polite tone that bordered on irritation and annoyance. "We normally expect our guests to _assist _in tacking up their horses, it helps to get them a bit _accustomed_ to our horses." Breanna nodded in emphasization, crossing her arms tightly.

"Oh. Normally at our usual barns, the horses are tacked and ready for us - that is, our barns that require as much payment as you do." Kyoya gave them a fleeting expression that Haruhi guessed was rudely polite as he strode out for the barn, followed by Honey and Mori.

The two girls were now having their tempers raised quite promptly, which was clear to Haruhi. Hikaru and Kaoru then followed Honey and Mori - who both continued making snark remarks about the apparent 'Western' riding (which appeared to get on Lici and Breanna's nerves even more) - and Tamaki then promptly ushered Haruhi out, continuing murmured squeaks about how "cute" she looked.

Haruhi sighed; if the Hosts continued to tick off the only apparent assistants in their riding time, she had a feeling it was going to be a very intriguing ride.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:  
**Ohmygosh I honesty to god never really expected anyone to seriously like this but people actually do and you guys have no idea how happy this makes me. But before I'm on with this chapter, I must state! I am so sorry to anyone who hates me for writing Lici and myself into this story. I absolutely promise promise PROMISE there is not going to be any selfshipping in this, because I seriously hate that, I just couldn't resist pulling a Stephen King and putting Lici and myself in. And I'm so sorry for this taking so long and for it being so terrible, Lici wasn't over whilst writing a bit of this, and I ended up accidentally halfway writing a rant about horse colors in the middle of it. (it has been deleted shh don't worry.) But anyway, on to the chapter!

"Well, this is the barn." Shrugged Lici, glancing irritably at the Host club.

Haruhi thought the barn looked quite pleasant, for a barn. It was fairly open and airy, with seemingly friendly horses poking their heads out of wooden stalls and staring curiously at the newcomers. Despite the prominent smell of horse manure and dust, Haruhi sort of liked it in the barn. It was open, bright, generally warm, and it had a sort of unspoken no-nonsense logic of it.

While Haruhi stood there taking the barn in, Tamaki promptly skipped over to a very white horse with bright blue blues and a pink colored muzzled and began fauning over the horse.

"Ooooh what a _pretty_ boy you are! _Perfect_ for me-e!" He sang lightly, rubbing the horse along its forehead between its eyes.

"_She_." Corrected Breanna, who'd slipped off to a stall housed by a dark colored horse with an odd white marking on its face, that stretched from towards its left eye to down beneath its right nostril.

"_She._" Murmured Tamaki, stroking the female horse along its nose.

"That's Champagne. Champagne Bubbles." Lici quipped lightly, as she began stroking the head of an extraordinarily tall brown colored horse, with whom's height sort of intimidated Haruhi, however, Lici appeared to not to be afraid of the giant.

"We call her Champie for short. She's a rescue." Breanna shrugged lightly as she scratched under a tuft of black hair on the odd-marked brown horse.

"Quite clearly rescues, especially with the appearance of them." Remarked Kyoya coolly, as he rather sneered at the black horse in front of him.

"_Excuse_ me?" Promptly stated Lici, giving Kyoya a hard stare.

"Well, look at the appearance of this one here - clearly not properly bred, would do _terrible_ in showing competitions most likely, especially with those scars - for the price I'm paying for this place, you'd assume we'd be on well-bred Warmbloods." Kyoya promptly crossed his arms and gave the two guides an irritatingly amused expression.

The two appeared to be about to shoot a sharp remark at him when Honey quickly squeaked, "I like _this_ one!" as he promptly began to stroke a golden-colored pony along its nose. It let out a high-pitched whinny, and Honey laughed. Mori stood to the stall next to Honey, nodding his approval at a grey-colored horse. A few stalls down from him, Hikaru and Kaoru had appeared to have chosen their mounts as well - two light, chestnut sort of colored horses with long white stripes down their foreheads that look the same as each other's. Twin horses, Haruhi guessed as she glanced around the stables. She had no idea which horse to pick, she had no idea about _any_ horses at all.

"Since you don't have too much riding experience, you should probably ride Checkers down there." Nodded Lici to a black and white colored horse, who stared at Haruhi with one blue eye, and one brown.

"Since _apparently_ these boys have _so_ much riding experience, they'll be _fine_ on whatever horse they want." Grumbled Breanna under her breath.

"Right, so, do you know how to groom your horses?" Lici asked, raising her brows slightly.

"Of course we do." Chorused Hikaru and Kaoru, as they both began entering the stalls and slipped on a sort of nylon head item to each horse, and lead them out of the stalls, then tied them to a sort of ring in front of each stall, and promtply each other Host club did the same, Honey with his cream pony, Mori with his grey horse, Tamaki with his white colored horse, and Kyoya with the 'scarred' black horse. Haruhi merely stood there meekly, having no idea what to do.

"Here Haruhi, we'll help you out!" The twins suddenly chorused as they seemingly appeared out of absolutely _nowhere_ and took both of her arms in their's, and led her down to the black and white horse's stall.

Kaoru then promptly picked up one of the nylon head item things, and showed Haruhi it.

"This is called a halter. It's used to lead a horse around or to tie them." Kaoru nodded, as he then slipped it upon the horse's head and led him out of the stall.

"He's a pretty color." Commented Haruhi, as she took in the black and white colored coat.

"It's called a _Piebald_, found on Paint horses." Hikaru nodded lightly.

"Shouldn't you be . . . 'grooming' your horses, instead of giving me a lesson on them?" Haruhi replied saucily.

The twins rolled their eyes, and promptly found their gaze found by a cold Breanna's.

"Lici and I aren't going to groom your horse's for you; do it yourselves!" She snapped lightly, and the two merely raised their brows and slipped off to their own horses.

Haruhi shrugged, and Breanna promptly assisted Haruhi in grooming her horse, explaining to her each brush and it's importance, when she then brought out a few saddles with Lici.

"These are called Western saddles, and they'll be a bit tricky for you boys if you've only been riding English - the cinches should be a bit tricky to do up, but -" Lici was promptly cut off from a snort from Kyoya.

"We'll be fine, thank you." He waved his hand simply, then proceeded to lift one of the 'Western' saddles (which, Haruhi thought, looked absolutely heavy and huge) and set it upon the black horse he had picked out's back.

Breanna and Lici scowled as each of the boys began setting the saddles on their horses and adjusting some sort of straps beneath their stomachs. (She deduced that these were the "cinches"), and just rather stood back - she really was absolutely _not_ in her element here.

Lici sighed lightly, then stepped over to Haruhi's horse and began adjusting the saddle upon her horse, and Haruhi merely stood by watching and retaining just how Lici adjusted the cinch, just in case she needed to do so herself later.

Behind Haruhi, she could hear Breanna snapping something to Tamaki.

"That is absolutely _not_ how you do up a Western cinch!" She growled.

"But this was how I was _taught!_" He retorted in a whiny sort of voice.

"And you were _taught_ wrong! Let _me_ do it!" She snapped at him.

"Bu- _aaaAHHHH!"_ Tamaki cut himself off with a high pitched sort of scream which caused her horse to jerk his head up and flatten his ears whilst Haruhi quickly turned to see what caused the scream.

**Second Author's Note: **No one hate me for writing a sort-of cliffhanger I am so soss. I'd post more but I'm about to go see a movie but I promise on my life I will post another chapter at the *MOST* in three days. At the least, in a few hours, so keep your eyes peeled!

Also also, for anyone who wants to know, I'm going to put out specifically what each Host's horse is modeled after for anyone who wants to do some googling.

Tamaki's horse is actually *NOT* technically white. His horse is a Cremello Quarter Horse mare, and I imagine her to have a bit of a swayback. (If you google a Cremello QH, beware of the intense meatmobiles that will pop up. Tamaki's horse is not a meatmobile.)

Kyoya has a solid black Morgan gelding with ermine patterns on his forefeet, a large topline, and has various scars along his hips from abuse.

Honey has a small, solid colored palomino American Shetland Pony that is a bit camped under with a pigeon toe on the forelegs. (not the uber tiny kind, just the kind of tiny kind)

Mori has a dapple grey Tb x QH gelding with black points (points being legs, mane, tail, and ears), a low topline, and high withers.

Hikaru and Kaoru chose two Morab (Morgan x Arabian) chestnuts with flaxen mane and tails, both of which have crooked blazes on their heads, and both of which have slight dishes and teeny tiny hooves..

And finally, I chose for Haruhi to have a Piebald Paint Horse, that is simply chubby.

For anyone who has no clue what I am talking about, I am sorry. but google will be your friiiennnddd shhh  
OH! And my horse is modeled after my actual horse (Seal bay AQH with a pigeon toe and slightly downhill) and Lici's is a bay Clydesdale with a extraordinary topline. That is all! To update in a few hours or so hopefully!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **_Do you guys hate me yet for not updating because oh my god I am so sorry. I've got a flurry of honest to god excuses as to the lack of updates, ranging from my sister got married and my horse has been sick (MY BABY STILL IS AGHHHH) but I promise to end this impromtu hiatus! My goal is to just finish this up as fast as possible, if anything I'll try and finish everything tonight and just post it all over a span of a few days or so. Or, maybe all at once. I dunno. Depends on what I get done! Also, SOOO sorry for this short lil chapter, but I PROMISE a *big* chapter after this, and I'm working on it literally right now. So! Enjoy this while I go work!_

Tamaki flailed his arms wildly as tears streamed down his face, due to the fact that his horse had just set her hoof upon his foot.

Breanna started snickering whilst Lici shoved the mare over, and off his foot. Hikaru and Kaoru both grimaced slightly, murmuring "Youch, boss"; Honey made one of the largest frowns possible and cried "Are you okay, Tama-chan?!" (with Mori echoing a sort of questioning "Hmm" after his words); and Kyoya simply made a unamused expression whilst shaking his head over crossed arms.

Tamaki halted his arm flailing and merely cluthed his hands to his chest, tears still streaming, and he let out a very quiet, but still set in a higher octave than his normal voice, phrase of "The horsey stepped on my foot!" Which he seemed to repeat various times until fading into a low sort of whining noise, which reminded Haruhi much of a puppy.

"Are you okay, Senpai?" She asked, her brows raised lightly and lips drawn back in a touch of concern. He gave a very small nod, and let out another whimper.

"All she did was set her foot on your's, can't have hurt _that_ much." Murmured Breanna, and Haruhi was _fairly_ certain she heard a light "whimp" grumbled under Breanna's breath.

All Tamaki managed was a low squeaking in response.

After a few more minutes full of low whining, rolling eyes, and lessons on horse tack, each horse was now standing patiently outside of the barn, and ready for a ride.

Honey was set in the saddle by Mori, and he let out a light "Ah-ha!" squeal as he perched lightly; Mori simply swung up and onto his gray horse, Kyoya followed suit onto his black horse, yet Hikaru and Kaoru merely stood on either side of Haruhi and grinned lightly.

"We'll help you onto your horse, Haruhi!" They sang in unison, before promptly taking her by the waist on either side, lifting her up, and setting her upon the back of her black and white steed, much to Haruhi's annoyance.

Tamaki peeked over the back of his white-colored horse, eyes wide and face slowly turning red in absolute anger and jealousy, and Haruhi was certain she heard a strained "_I could've helped her oooonnn!_" Coming from him.

The Hitachiin twins' then took either of her feet, and set them in large leather pieces, which Haruhi guessed were called 'stirrups', then lightly grinned up at her with mirroring mischevious expressions. Haruhi rolled her eyes in response, and the boys then went off to mount their own horses.

Upon the back of the horse, Haruhi felt both extraordinarily powerful and absolutely senseless. She could feel the horse, each flick of the skin, each slight movement, and even feel a touch of warmth come off from the soft coat; however, she felt slightly fearful. She hadn't the first clue about horseback riding, had no idea how to steer the horse, how to move her feet, how to hold her hands - she was flightly afraid of doing the wrong movement and just fall off. She took a deep breath, and let herself stiffen up - someone would tell her what to do, she was sure.

She'd just hold still for now . . . that was, until she felt herself completely begin to start to slide off the side of the horse. She felt her left foot slip out of the stirrup and felt her whole body lean to the right, and she made a mad grab for the hair upon the horse's neck when she felt a warm hand upon her leg pull her back right side up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: _I was about to start chapter five when I realised I had already written up half of it. OOPS. Here it is! I expected posting it much, much, much later on today but here, I did a thing! Do enjoy! And I'm so sorry for the crap ending for it. Don't hate me. Just enjoy the random lil' implied HaruhixTamaki in there. :3_

Haruhi took a deep breath and held fast to the large leather horn in front of her upon her saddle, she then deepened herself in the saddle and glanced over to the wide, puppy eyes of Tamaki.

Haruhi was absolutely _certain_ Tamaki was attempting to make himself out to be a knight in shining armor upon horseback, and from the pose he was performing (chest puffed out with his chin high, one hand on the reins of the bridle and the other at his hip lightly with a soft breeze blowing his hair back under his hat) he might have passed for one - except, his horse didn't quite feel like posing as the stereyotypical white stallion each white knight rode. Instead, his horse found herself quite prompt to merely nibble on a large patch of grass, and Tamaki quickly pulled her head directly back up.

Tamaki appeared disgruntled for a moment, then quickly composed himself to appear light and pleasant.

"Careful there, Haruhi! You can't be so stiff while riding!" He chirped lightly, giving her an amused smile, and Haruhi was absolutely _certain_ she saw a touch of pride in his eyes, most likely from his "daring rescue" he pulled from simply catching her before she fell off.

Haruhi sighed and fought back a roll of her eyes as she simply replied, "Thanks, Senpai. I'm just not used to horses."

"Well, the first to start with would be holding the reins properly instead of clinging to the horn of the saddle like you're about to crash off." Kyoya butted in as he rode his tall black mount on the other side of Haruhi.

"Well, how do you hold the reins then?" Haruhi asked, slightly amused, staring at Kyoya as Tamaki started unleashing puppy eyes on Kyoya, and even had tears in his eyes. He had _really_ wanted to show Haruhi how to ride, not have Kyoya do it for him.

"Like this." He replied, then stretched forward and adjusted her hands along the pieces of leather strapped to the bridle upon the horse's head. She held the reins between her index finger and thumb, then slide them along the inside of the palm of her hand, and let it loose through her pinky. She held the reins like this on either side with the careful adjustments from Kyoya, and Haruhi was _certain_ Tamaki was most likely going nuts behind her as Kyoya adjusted her.

"You should also push your heels down farther and sink your weight into them. It'll give you more balance as you ride and make it easier. Just try to relax and don't fall off - I don't want to have to go through the process of adding your hospital bills to your debt to us." Kyoya replied quite promptly, lightly, and absolutely irritatingly. Haruhi felt her shoulders stiffen and her mouth open slightly as she imagined just how much damage could be done if she fell from the horse - sure, she'd be alright, the Hosts would make sure she was taken to a fine hospital; the problem was, fine hospitals tended to _cost_ a lot. In honesty, every hospital tended to cost a lot.

Kyoya shrugged once at her, and rode forward, and Tamaki merely turned away and fumed (Haruhi could have _sworn_ she saw the beginnings of a mushroom upon his saddle as he did so).

"Just squeeze your legs a little bit to make her walk forward, Haruhi! It's easy!" Chirped Honey from upon his golden colored pony.

"Well, alright." Haruhi shrugged. Okay, just remain relaxed throughout the ride - she could do that.

"You guys ready to go?" Chirped Lici from to the side of the group of each Host mounted upon their steeds.

"Yes!" Hikaru, Kaoru, Tamaki, Honey, Kyoya, and Mori (given his was a bit more of a light "Hmmm") chorused together, and Haruhi merely shrugged.

"Then let's go." Breanna stated simply, managing only a small smile before nudging her horse forward.

They each rode along quietly for the starting of the trail Lici and Breanna led them to, taking in their surroundings, which, Haruhi had to admit, were absolutely beautiful. Tall trees of all kinds sprouted up in all directions, smothering them with a cool shade that wavered now and then as the leaves of the tallest trees swayed just slightly in a warm breeze from the perfectly clear blue sky day. All around the riders the forest was absolutely active with life, birds chirped here and there, small chipmunks and squirrels scuttled around, paused, then zipped along. Despite the rocky beginning, Haruhi was really quite glad for this trip - it was calm, pleasant, and peaceful.

"Psst, Haruhi!" Tamaki quickly called in a calm, quiet voice from atop his halted mount. Haruhi sighed slightly, wondering what on earth it could be now, and carefully (given, unsteadily as well) over to Tamaki, and halted.

"What is it, Senpai?" She asked in her usual, slightly monotonous voice.

"Shhh!" He hushed, pressing his finger to his lips. "Look." He then added in a quiet voice, and pointed to a small opening in a tiny, soft grassed clearing with in the trees, where a small doe and fawn remained, sunbathing together, their coats a beautiful shining red, and the image absolutely took Haruhi's breath away. She'd seen plenty of deer in her life - some fawns, too - but really never like this.

"Oh, they're beautiful, Senpai." She murmured quietly, and Tamaki grinned - a bit proudly - in response.

"I don't get to see deer too often, but I always enjoy it when I do." Tamaki murmured, speaking a bit to himself.

"Me too." Haruhi added half-mindedly, and glanced up at Tamaki, and he glanced at her, and they both smiled for a moment.

"Hey slowpokes, if you don't hurry up we're leaving you be-hi-nd!" Sang Hikaru quite suddenly, so suddenly that the deer - with their excellently acute hearing - promptly spooked and fled the moment, and Tamaki quite suddenly appeared as if he was going to explode, with his cheeks turning a bit red, and his teeth biting down harshly upon his lip.

"Really, Tamaki, we're here to ride not just sit around." Kyoya tossed over his shoulder carelessly, and the area fell silent for just a moment, when Tamaki promptly let out a loud, frustrated cry.

"_CAN'T YOU EVER HO-_" Tamaki would have finished his sentence, however, the pressing matter of Haruhi's predicament seemed to come first.  
At Tamaki's sudden outburst from silence, Haruhi's horse had quite simply spooked by flattening his ears, stamping his feet harshly and tossing his head back quite highly - and he _would_ have halted with that simple spook, but Haruhi was already quite unsteady on horseback, and thus sort of flailed at the sudden jerk, accidentally kicking her heels quite deeply into the horse's side - which, the horse responded to promptly, and took off at a gallop, with the astounded Host club watching in horror behind.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**_ It's short, I'm so sorry, but it's picking up at least! Also, apologies for OOC-ness, I'm apparently horrible at being the Hosts in moments like these x.x don't hate me, I'm trying!_

The Host club and their guides stared in horror for a moment before leaping into action.

"Can you boys gallop?" Breanna asked the boys quite quickly, her voice taking on a deeper tone. She was quite _clearly_ angry, yet was more focused on the matter at hand.

"Yes, we can gallop perfectly fine." Kyoya answered in a dark tone, a frown creasing his lips.

"Then let's go." Lici replied simply, and with a loud chorus of clucking tongues and a odd sort of language that only riders can understand as that of getting one's horse to move forward quickly, the group took off at a gallop with Lici and Breanna in the front, Tamaki behind with Kyoya at his side, Hikaru and Kaoru promptly behind (both in mirroring positions and with their horses' gaits in absolute sync) and finally Mori and Honey bringing up the rear, Honey bouncing rapidly in a way that would be almost comical had it not been for his absolute distressed expression.

They rode for what seemed like ages, which was actually simply minutes, and never seemed to catch any sort of glimpses of Haruhi. Yet after awhile, they each briskly pulled their huffing mounts to a halt at a fork in the road - both leading in absolute odd directions and with no sign of Haruhi - no tracks, no broken branches or stray horse hair.

"She could've gone either way!" Growled Tamaki slightly, shuffling the reins in his hands from right to left.

"We'll have to split up." Breanna stated, and Lici nodded in agreement.

"She could have gone off the trail, so I suggest that w-" Kyoya began, but was cut off shortly.

"No, we understand your point at trying to help, but no. This is our guide, this is our land, and this is our job. We call the shots here, not our guests. You follow us. In any case, Lici will be taking you boys home and we'll continue the search, we know the land better and can go through ground more easily with you boys hiking up our trail." Breanna promptly stated with a hard lined jaw and furrowed brows.

"_No!_" Cried Tamaki, his cheeks flushed red and hands stiffening over the leather reins - his hat tilted downward over his eyes in almost darkening way, and it was clear that as he chose his words he was holding back floods of emotion - emotion that could be a mixture of anything, and neither Host nor guide truly wanted to know the identity of. "It was our fault for making Haruhi come out here, and our's for her taking off - we're going to help find her." His lips pursed and hard jaw matched Breanna, and the two guides promptly sighed.

"Fine." Lici stated, squaring her shoulders.

"Alright, Hikaru and Kaoru - you boys go with Lici and check the right trail, I'll go with Tamaki and Kyoya down the left trail - Mori, Honey, you boys backtrack towards the ranch - on occasion if horse's spook, they'll just try and go home. They could be back at the barn, but if they're not, you'll find a map in the main office on the right side of the first aisle in the barn - it'll be on the desk - and check the small trails directly leading out from the ranch. Check the base of those for any sign of the two, and if you don't see any, then just wait in the barn - they may come back." Breanna listed out the orders and each Host nodded with sheer determination.

"Also, take these -" Lici stated whilst pulling out three small black devices from the saddle bags upon her saddle.

"They're walkie talkies and already all in sync and set up, ready to go. If you guys find any sign of her, contact the rest and we'll head home." She promptly handed one walkie talkie to Breanna, and one to Mori, who both nodded.

"Alright, let's _go!_" Tamaki nearly growled, and promptly each group split up - Hikaru and Kaoru flanking Lici down the right of the trail, Kyoya and Tamaki also flanking Breanna, and Mori and Honey heading back the way they came with peeled eyes, each holding a fast paced trot upon their mounts.

* * *

During this, Haruhi had promptly been clinging to the saddle upon her piebald* steed, and had merely shut her eyes and prayed that she'd come out at least slightly unharmed. It seemed ages until her mount finally halted, but her mount did - not in a sudden sliding stop, but a sort of gradual halt, and Haruhi promptly slid right off - well, more of fell off in exhaustion from holding on so tightly. She sat upon the cool ground, and fell backwards in a laying down position, taking in a slow breath. She may be a bit lost, but she was alright - and the Host's should find her soon - at least, she hoped they would.

* * *

*Piebald - black and white horse.


End file.
